Speaking this afternoon, WA’s commissioner of prisons Tony Hassall said that a prison officer found Mr Edwards at 7.55am in the shower block in the secure unit of Hakea this morning, bleeding from the right ear and with a pencil nearby.

Mr Hassall said that unit – which contained 22 prisoners including Mr Edwards at the time – was now in full lockdown, with police on scene conducting an investigation.

But there is no CCTV on that unit, so no vision of the incident was available

And he also confirmed his deputy was on scene at the prison, overseeing inquiries as to what could possible be done now to ensure Mr Edwards’ safety.

“He was found on his own … but I am assuming they will now speak to the 21 other prisoners, and the staff on duty,” Mr Hassall said.

“He would have received some triage before he went to the hospital. It is protection unit, a secure part of the prison where we put prisoners who we deem need protection or ask for protection.

“And the unit was normally staffed with one senior officer and nine prison officers.”

Camera IconCourt sketch of Bradley Robert Edwards.Picture: Supplied

Mr Hassall said when officers found Mr Edwards bleeding from his right ear, he refused to tell them what had happened.

But authorities from the Department of Corrective Services and police have launched a full investigation into what happened, and how the 50 year-old could be kept safe until his trial, which is due to start later this year.

“He was asked that question (about what happened) and the information I got was he was refusing to speak to the officers that found him,” Mr Hassall said.

“I have asked the deputy commissioner for prisons to go over to the prison to see what further controls, if any, we can put around him when he comes back.”

All three women were abducted off the streets of Claremont between 1996 and 1997.

Mr Edwards is also accused of depriving a woman of her liberty after breaking into her Huntingdale home in February 1988 – a charge the court was previously told “encompassed” an alleged indecent assault.

He has also pleaded not guilty to the abduction and rape of a 17-year-old girl in Karrakatta Cemetery in February 1995 – less than a year before Ms Spiers disappeared.

Her body has never been found.

A three-day hearing was set down for this week for prosecutors to argue to Justice Hall to allow them to use "propensity evidence" at his trial in July.